


Beloved Empress

by TaurusVersant



Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/M, Ridiculously fluffy, This is super self indulgent and I will not apologise, Valentines Morning After, technically extremely light endgame spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 18:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11903619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaurusVersant/pseuds/TaurusVersant
Summary: It's the first morning of the rest of their lives.





	Beloved Empress

**Author's Note:**

> I'm dedicating this fic to ScruffyTurtles, aka THE Big Haru Okumura fan. It's thanks to him that even before I started P5 I knew I'd be romancing Haru, and it was a fine decision indeed. Thanks for creating that good good internet content! Keep it up!

_**2/15, Wednesday Morning** _

There was a warmth and closeness unlike any other, soft morning light illuminating the room as awakening came to the pair. Haru was the first to act, a deep yet contended sigh emerging from her as she pushed her bare back against Akira's own chest, the contact of skin on skin enough to send a pulse of joy through each. Akira shifted, lowered his head, and left a gentle kiss upon the shoulder of the girl he'd fallen in love with. This was good.

This was how it should be.

Haru giggled, that light and joyous sound that trilled through Akira's heart, and rolled her shoulders, pushing even further against Akira, as if trying to connect as much of her body to his own as she could. Arms moved and wrapped around her, holding her tight, and another contended sigh emerged. She stilled, and simply enjoyed this moment.

She'd been waiting for so long.

When the light did further, and sounds from the streets outside started to manifest as people prepared for the day, Akira stretched out an arm, over to the shelves beside his bed, and picked up one of the two phones sat there, resting side by side just as their owners did now. A tap upon its screen revealed the time, and gave the two the countdown to when they would have to rouse. Sojiro would be at Leblanc soon, and the sheer awkwardness of still being in the same bed while there was another in the building outweighed how very much they wanted to stay just like this for as long as they could. Alas.

Yet it was not just the time revealed when the screen of Akira's phone lit up, a notification listed a series of messages having been delivered as well. Akira tapped at the screen, opening the log of messages from last night, the reason he hadn't noticed them obvious now. Immediately Haru struggled to stifle a laugh.

> **Futaba** : Akiraaaaaa :<  
>  **Futaba** : Mona won't get off my keyboard  
>  **Futaba** : He's telling me it's bedtime!  
>  **Futaba** : Stop being such a player and take this cat back home!  
>  **Futaba** : :U  
>  **Futaba** : You're not even getting these messages are you?  
>  **Futaba** : How did you live this past year with Mona on your back all the time?  
>  **Futaba** : He keeps trying to see what I'm typing but won't get off the keyboard  
>  **Futaba** : I can't believe you've done this to me  
>  **Futaba** : ┬─┬ノ( º _ ºノ)  
>  **Futaba** : ( ヘ º _ º)ヘ ┬─┬  
>  **Futaba** : ┻━┻ ︵ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ︵ ┻━┻  
>  **Futaba** : Okay I'm done  
>  **Futaba** : Enjoy spending time with your girrrrrrrlfriend  
>  **Futaba** : while I'm stuck here being forced by a cat to sleep before midnight  
>  **Futaba** : Next time he's sleeping outside!

Akira himself couldn't help but smile as he returned the phone to the shelf it had been resting on, set it down beside Haru's own once more. Though he was already bringing his arm back to her, Haru reached up to grab it, pulled it in against her chest and held it tight. Akira smiled gently and rested his head against the back of her own.

They still had a little more time.

Eventually, Haru spoke.

“I don't want this to end.”

“There'll be more time,” Akira tightened his grip, holding her from behind, each of their heartbeats reaching the other, “it's only for a moment.”

Haru's auburn hair shook slightly as she moved her head, back still to Akira. If she faced him, she would not be able to speak as clearly as she was now. She couldn't, not just yet. “But you're going home soon. You're leaving.”

Akira was quiet. They'd discussed it last night, at least a little, but nothing had really been said. Promises for each to visit the other when chances arose. The acknowledgement that they each still wanted nothing more than to be with the other. But even still, after having been so close now, the knowledge they'd be apart again in a month's time hurt. Was that truly what he wanted?

“Are you sure you can't stay?”

The sigh from Akira carried his hot breath onto Haru's bare skin and she shivered at it, the intimacy all too powerful. Being like this, being so happy, so content with someone she felt true and genuine love towards, it was something she'd never even imagined before meeting Akira, before becoming a Phantom Thief. He'd arrived like a ray of light into her life, and his extended hand had helped her escape the quagmire she'd been sure would once consume her. He was her saviour. And, selfishly or not, she didn't want to let him go.

She wanted them to stay like this forever.

“Nothing...” Akira finally spoke, having thought about the right words to say, “will stop me from coming back. Just a year, and I'll be back. I'll graduate to a Tokyo college and move back out and then we can be together. For good. Just one year.”

Just one year... such a small span of time in the grand scheme of things, yet it felt like a gulf between now and the future Haru desired. She sighed too.

“I can't,” Akira continued, knowing he'd yet to express his true thoughts on the matter, “say no to this. My parents are expecting me to come home. And I'm still a minor. If I say no to them... I don't want to think about how that would hurt them.”

Parents... Akira understood, but he still had to be honest. And Haru couldn't begrudge him for wanting to maintain his familial relationships. If she had a chance to speak to her father once more she... Haru clenched her eyes and teeth, Akira's warm arms tightening around her showing he could sense what was on her mind. Another moment of silence, and closeness, shared between the two.

And finally Haru willed herself to roll over, her chest pressing up against Akira's own, and their eyes meeting for the first time since awakening. There was so much affection, so much love in Akira's gaze, that Haru felt like her heartbeat had increased several times over. Warmth rushed to her cheeks as she attempted to look down only to realise she was then looking at Akira's – honestly quite impressively – muscled chest. That did nothing to calm her either.

“It...” her voice was quieter, still looking down. Akira brought his own head closer, his forehead touching her own. Haru swallowed and continued. “It almost feels like I've been blessed, to have found you, and for us to be together. It was so late that I met you, and you'd already met so many incredible people. Ann-chan, Mako-chan, Hifumi-chan, sometimes I don't understand, how you waited to meet me. It feels like I'm cheating, to have you like this.”

When she'd asked Akira, months ago now, why Takakura-san had claimed she'd liked him, she'd been partially prepared for heartbreak. Although, over the short time they had spent together, Haru had found herself thinking more and more of wanting to be with Akira, it had been tempered just a little by the knowledge that he'd only known her for so little a time. There was no real way, right?

But he'd said it. He'd said that he liked her too. That he wanted to be with her. And her heart had soared.

She didn't know what she'd done to deserve such fortune.

A hand touched her chin, surprising her as it tilted her head up. Akira's eyes were so close. And his lips were upon hers. Softly, just barely parted, and only for a moment. But enough to convey a depth of care that raced through Haru's heart and filled her entire body with warmth. When Akira did pull back, still staring into her eyes, he chuckled, just lightly.

“When did you even meet Hifumi?”

“Oh!”

There was a brief struggle of laughter and movement as Haru moved an arm to mock-punch Akira in the gut, he feigning the blow as being one of incredible strength. It ended with foreheads pressed together again, each laughing at the other.

This was more than Haru had ever dreamed of. She had never imagined happiness such as this. She didn't want it to end.

“We were all busy while you were away from us,” Haru eventually told the tale, “and each ended up meeting with the people you'd affected. Hifumi-chan was... very passionate about demanding your freedom. It honestly surprised me.”

Akira had yet to see any of his Confidants beyond Sojiro and fellow Thieves since being released. He'd need to track down each, say hello and make sure they knew he appreciated them. Sae had described the outside pressure for his release as immense. No doubt there were many people he owed a lot to. Many thanks to give.

“Before we met,” Akira gave his side of the story, “The Phantom Thieves enacted a change of heart on her mother. In a way it saved her. And she figured out who I was pretty quickly after that.”

“She seemed to care for you a lot.”

“She's a very good friend.”

Haru didn't seem quite satisfied with that response, and so Akira continued. Spoke the truth of his heart. “And that's all. Haru, you're the only one I want, the only person I truly wish to be with. You're right, I did meet many incredible people, and some of them I thought about asking out. But I didn't feel it, not the way I felt I should, so I didn't. But when I met you, when we spent time together, I did. I felt the longing to be with you every time I wasn't. That's when I knew. And when you asked me... if it hadn't come up then, I would have asked you out myself. That's the truth. You... are my one and only love.”

The rapidly pinkening cheeks of Haru did not stop at all as Akira spoke his absolute honesty, and her blush was burning hot by the time he finished. Barely able to even think, Haru just buried her head in his chest, arms holding on tight. He held her in return. And they were content.

But alas, all good things must come to an end.

Akira's room was still the attic of a cafe, and it was a cafe that would be opening soon enough. And so, with much regret, the two were required to rise and dress themselves once more. Akira was the first to step out of the bed, and so Haru spent a moment to consider his back. Almost reached out to touch it, yet stopped herself. They needed to focus on preparing for the day.

There would be more time for that in the future.

Still... given what they had all gone through, it was far less scarred than expected. The wounds of the Metaverse never carried over. All Akira had were the markings from his time in custody. Haru, and the others, had none at all.

Barely a sign of their roles as Phantom Thieves, saviours of the world.

“I'm heading downstairs to get things started.”

Akira left and the attic was Haru's, allowing her to stand and dress herself in solitude. For as much as the two were now intimately linked, Haru still had felt a twinge of embarrassment at the thought of dressing herself beside Akira. Perhaps he'd sensed that, and given her this moment.

Perhaps he just understood that the sooner he was downstairs preparing the morning's curry and coffee, the better. The Boss had given them this much lenience. Best to start repaying that favour immediately.

When Haru did descend the staircase to the first floor of Leblanc, it was to find a cup of steaming coffee set out for her already, Akira stirring a pot of curry in the kitchen. Taking a seat, Haru enjoyed watching as her boyfriend prepared the food. It was a sight she intended to never tire of.

Less than a minute passed between Akira placing a plate of hot curry in front of Haru and the bell of Leblanc ringing, its owner stepping into his domain. If Sojiro Sakura were surprised at seeing Haru here he did not show it, warm smile on his face as his eyes swept the room. He nodded to Akira.

“Good, glad to see you're still a hard worker. You're going to be helping out a lot over the next month, so make sure not to slack off.”

“Got it, Boss,” Akira poured a second coffee, one waiting for Sojiro, “thanks again.”

If Sojiro was going to unpack any of what that thanks was for, it wasn't out-loud. He moved around the counter, doing the final morning checks, before addressing Haru. “We'll be opening shortly, little lady, though you're welcome to stay as long as you want.”

“Ah, thank you!” Haru nodded vigorously, half-way through the curry Akira had provided. Truly, the curry of Leblanc was something else. Haru would most definitely have to ensure Akira's skills as both chef and barista were taken into her own eventual-planned cafe. Actually, on that note...

Once the curry was finished and the plate passed back up to Akira, who dutifully took it to be washed, Haru set her eye upon Sojiro, who cocked an eyebrow of his own at the force behind her gaze. “Something on your mind?”

“Yes,” Haru nodded once, plan set, “I was wondering if there was a possibility for me to apprentice at Leblanc. I am in need of experience, as I do intend to open my own cafe one day.”

Akira, washing a dish nearby, didn't turn around or stop, but Haru could tell his attention was suddenly very focused her way.

“Hah,” a laugh came out of Sojiro as he rubbed the back of his head, “You don't beat around the bush do you? Planning on learning what you can then putting me out of business?”

“Oh!” A hand immediately went over Haru's mouth, her eyes wide, “No no, that's not at all what I-” Haru's apologies, quickly forming, were drowned out by Sojiro's laughter. Akira, having turned away from the dishes, was giving him a dirty stare that he happily ignored.

“Don't mind me,” Leblanc's owner waved a hand, “I'm just teasing. I'm not going to be at this forever, and it'd be great to see what this shop has pass to a new generation. You're already clearly going to take my best cook with you anyway.”

Haru and Akira were both silently and slightly red-cheeked at that one. Sojiro never lost his smile. “How about you head home for today, and tomorrow you can come back and I'll get you started. Just try not to occupy that guy too much, you're going to be working as long as you're behind this counter, got it?”

“Right!” Haru nodded again, a wide smile on her face. Akira, still hovering around the kitchen, was smiling too. The two of them might only have a month left before Akira had to return home, but it would be a month to remember. A month to tide them over, beside brief visits, the coming year. And then Akira would return to Tokyo, return to his home here with all those that cared for him, and the rest of their lives would begin.

She couldn't wait.

**Author's Note:**

> One of my friends mentioned waking up together fics a few weeks ago and it set the seed for this incredibly indulgent fic in my mind. Yesterday I finished my NG+ playthrough of P5, so I'm finally ready to put the game down and take up the keyboard. I have some P5 things to write so look forward to that over the coming weeks!


End file.
